Too Good

For Tv?

Bravo Resurrects

Shows That Had Merit

If Not Success. The

Latest Is Brooklyn

Bridge.

August 24, 1994|By KEN PARISH PERKINS Chicago Tribune

There's nothing like popularity to make something seem valuable, worthwhile, even culturally meaningful. Let's face it: If millions of people make weekly appointments to curl up and watch something like, say, Baywatch, then an itch of some kind is being scratched.

Of course, there exists a nagging truth behind these things. Shows that have been held up for recognition among the Viewers for Quality Television crowd - I'll Fly Away, for instance - are often the ones that end up in the TV morgue while other, more brainless fare enjoys longevity and skips merrily into rerun or syndication heaven.

It is significant to learn that Brooklyn Bridge, the tender and thoughtful dramatic comedy that aired on CBS during the 1991-93 seasons, will return. The catch: It's in reruns and only on Bravo, the superb but scantily carried film and arts cable channel. Thus, the show's return serves only as reminder of good TV now gone.

Based on the childhood experiences of writer-director-producer Gary David Goldberg, in its network run Brooklyn Bridge unfolded through the personal reflections of a 14-year-old Jewish boy.

Gerard portrayed Alan as a brainy, baseball-crazed kid who lived with his younger brother, Nathaniel (Matthew Siegel), and his parents (Amy Aquino and Peter Friedman) in a small apartment in a lower-middle-class section of the Bensonhurst section of the borough. Alan's Russian-immigrant grandparents lived in the two-flat's downstairs apartment.

Set in the 1950s, Brooklyn Bridge delivered tales that were sweet and enchanting, wise and witty, historically and culturally significant. But its unapologetic zeal for telling dramatic stories with humor made it one of those slow-to-catch-on series.

It was, some like to say, too good for TV.

In June of last year, Bravo began airing a series of second-run programming that strived to present high quality and a unique artistic insight. They called it "TV Too Good for TV."The series has already aired Twin Peaks and Max Headroom. Brooklyn Bridge will air under this series umbrella.

Unlike networks, independent stations and cable channels bidding for ratings winners, Bravo's criterion is artistic merit. "We look for programming that didn't get what we felt was an adequate opportunity on traditional TV," says Kathleen Dore, Bravo's senior vice president and general manager.

Still, the presence of "TV Too Good for TV" brings up the troubling question of whether some shows really are too good for television.

It's something to ponder. Cable's expansion and the fracturing of the viewing audience has cut deeply into the networks' ad revenues and made them trigger-happy with slow starters.

Given the economic model that has driven traditional TV in the past, Dore thinks success now is a matter of being good or simply lucky.

Goldberg also was with Family Ties, which ran for seven years on NBC. But after Brooklyn Bridge, he exited television, vowing not to return. He's currently in post-production on Bye, Bye Love, a feature film he produced and co-wrote with buddy Brad Hall.

"Every person who has a show canceled feels it didn't get enough time and is certain how it could have been a hit if, dot, dot, dot," Goldberg says during a phone interview. "But, yes, that particular show was a fragile one in a hostile environment. It needed more stability and patience. I do feel that the networks have to take a certain responsibility and be more nurturing to certain shows."

The cancellation of Fox's risky anthology series Tribeca, set in Lower Manhattan and featuring an eclectic range of stories and characters, brought protests from viewers, but Fox Entertainment President Sandy Grushow says audiences have no one to blame but themselves. "We gave it a nice run," he says. "The audience never came."

Fox gave it a short run, actually, airing only a half-dozen episodes. But he raises an interesting question. Do we say we want I'll Fly Away, but watch Baywatch?